The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-29
CHAT WITH MARIETTA HoLLEY.
Notes About Well-known Writer
Other Matters.

ways TO look on the bright side of the world.
| Everybody knows 'Josiah Aliens Wife,
''Sweet Clccly, " and their kin, and if friends
count whom one has never seen, but who
have led you, for the merry hours, the kindly
common sense and the pleasant thoughts you
| have brought into their lives, past the outer
gateway of their hearts, past the formal re-
| ceptioa room where they entertain the
writers of most of the books on their library
shelves and into the very living room, TO the
cosleSt nook by the fireSide, along with Miss
| Alcot and Dickens and their own especial
clique Of literary neighbors and friends, then
Miss Marietta dolley has as many intimates
| aS a human being could desire.
| The author of the immortal Samantha
| is n woman of-well, the public has no espe-
cial concern with her years and the present
| writer doesn't know them. She has the best
part of her life before her certainly, and has
won success and u comfortable fortune at
an age when most writers count themselves
| fortunate if they have made fair start.
| She is of medium height, with regular fea-
| lures, dark hair and large, expressive gray
| eyes. She has fresh color, very pleasant
to look on in these days when pallid, hot
| house women are not wholly a thing of the
past, and face that lights up and biightens
| wonderfully when she speaks.
| ~ have been hard at work during my stay
| in New York." she said the other day,
Though have taken holiday trip this
| spring to Washington and Fortress Monroe.
| My new book Samantha at Saratoga ~
| the manuscript brought her the neat sum Of
| Sli 600, by the way-"will be out, | sup
| pose early in the summer. Then l have
| two other books by me that / am working
on"
''How do you writes Do those stories of
] yours come easily to the pen and have you
anY favorite hours for work ~
ITO the last question, yes ] write in the
| morning, sitting down to my desk pretty
regularly when ! have work by me, and let
| ting nothing short of an earthquake, or one
| of those domestic catastrophes that all
| women have to yield to interrupt me till my
| days task Is done AT ! o'clock, when
have made the last penstroke, have done
with writing for the day. do not let ink
| intrude into my afternoon or evening"
'Do you dictate your books to a stenog-
rapher or typewriter as so many authors are
coming TO dor
"No, don't think i could compose line
unless | had the pen in my own hand. Some
| times | write so rapidly that ! fall into q
| sort of original shof fthand and often my
manuscript is SO illegible that / am glad TO
have copylst at hand
your books are put together quickly,
thenr'
ayes, aud no, both. The first draught
is written very rapidly. Then comes the
| drudgery. Finishing a volume till / am
ready TO let it go from my hands may take
| more months than the original composition
called for weeks. ! never wish TO publish
anything unless | am sure it is as well as
| can do.n
'"Your last book, Miss Jones' Quilting,
that came out in February, seems to be in a
different style from the rest"
''My last bookl That is not mine at all
and it has caused me some perturbation of
| spirit that il should be issued in such shape
as to seem to be under my name. The title
story a very short one, Is mine 1t was one
| of the first things ! ever wrote and was
| bought from my publishers, | suppose, and
| put with the rest of the volume whose author
| or authors | do not know The matter of
| which the book is made up is SO totally diff
| ferent from anything of mine tnat it has
been the occasion Of no little trouble sAd
vexation that my friends should attribute it
| to me.n
Miss Holley will leave New York about
the first of June to summer in her country
| home In jefferson county. She may buy q
| house in the city in the autumn or she may
cast in her lot with Washington. She is a
| farmers daughter and for years has clung
! closely to the life Of the country, but being
one of those happy tempered mortals who
! look for pleasant things and always find
4
especially in winter, the town. She began
her literary work some twenty years ago
| and her history has been much like that Of
| other writer's, except that success has come
| TO her more quickly and more easily than TO
| some. She Is a modest woman, given to
| blushing when asked about her books, but
thoroughly enjoying the appreciative letters
| that come TO her from east and west with
| almost every mail The good words of go
siah Aliens wife, daughter of j. Smith,
| ESD" are as plentiful as her witty ones and
| may all literary women be as charming as
she
MRS. THURBER AND OPERA.
| What pluck and perseverance Mrs. Thur
| Der shows. In spite of the disastrous season
| of the National Opera Company, ard in
| spite of the absence of any symptom of the
rallying of the general public TO its sup
port, she is already deep in preparations for
the autumn. in some respects on larger
| scale than before
'rhings are not so bad as they look, :" she
| said 10 friend the other day. "If did not
believe that we had fairly passed the crisis,
| it might he better TO stop where we are
| But every organization on such scale and
| in so novel a matter must expect to learn
| by experience, and though we bought ours
dear, it may in the end be worth what IL
| cost. IL we had known on the start what
degrees since, we might have lost money
but think not | hope, at any rate, we
shall not sink much more
'And you propose 10 see IL throughp
Most certainly expect TO go on. II is
not possible 10 believe that I'm the long run
we can fail. Think Of the millions this
country spends annually ON her colleges, her
art museums and all sorts of educational
enterprises, and then tell me that IL will not
some time find out that il has little tospare
for music. | hope the worst Is already past
but, If not, the music lovers will some day
come to our help, and meanwhile We shall
correct the mistakes of our ignorance, try
10 get equally good singers for more mode
rate salaries and do the best we can."
There is probably no more popular move
that Mrs. Thurher couid make nor one that
would turn more dollars into the needful
guarantee fund than to open her next season
with an exhibition of the proficiency that
Mime. Fursch- -Madi's pupils have obtained.
The school of opera, or the National Con-
servatOry. as it prefers 10 call itself, was TO
many people the most important feature OF
Mrs 1hurber's scheme, and they feel that
real American opera by American singers
has dropped altogether in the background,
while the money has gone for a ballet and a
German accent. The school has done some
good work in spite of these complaints,
however, aud there are some American girls
in IL that will yet give good account Of them
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